The invention relates to document summarization technology, and more particularly, to systems and methods of patent summarization.
A patent is a document issued by the U.S. government or other government which describes and claims an invention, and grants to the patent owner a legal right to exclude all others from practicing the invention within the jurisdiction of that government. A patent consists of abstract, specification, claims (which conclude the specification), and drawings, if necessary. The abstract describes a brief statement on the front page of the patent, briefly describing the invention. The specification is a description of the manner and process of making and using the invention, including the “preferred embodiment” of the invention, sufficient to enable a person of ordinary skill in that technology to practice the invention. The claims are a list of statements which distinctly and particularly point out the subject matter which the applicant regards as the invention, thereby legally defining the boundaries of the patent rights. The drawings include block diagrams, flowcharts, schematics and the like, which illustrate the invention.
Hard patent documents may be digitalized by scanners with relevant Optical Character Recognition (OCR) equipment, or a digital file maybe provided by applicants, providing capability for analysis by various mathematical methods. Patent documents, however, are usually difficult to understand and need to be summarized.